Back to Loves like Jesus
You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you in order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
(Matthew 5:43-45)
Scriptures to explore: Exodus 23:4-5; Proverbs 24:17; Proverbs 25:21; II Kings 5:1-10; II Kings 6:20-23; Matthew 5:45; Matthew 7:12; Matthew 20:28; Luke 6:27-38; Luke 23:34; Acts 14:17; Romans5:8; Philippians 2:6-9
In our fallen nature, being self-focused, it impossible for us to love our enemies. By definition, an enemy is hostile, wanting to harm or even destroy us! We do not even consider doing good to those who would like to destroy us and all that we find important. The idea sounds preposterous, ridiculous, even impossible. We would never conceive of such an idea on our own. In light of the hurts and pains that come through the people around us, we do not desire to love our enemy who intentionally seeks to harm us. If we hear that Jesus commands us to love our enemies, we are shocked, and say there is no way. As a result, we think Jesus is irrelevant.
We begin to mature in Christ and start grasping his call to love our enemies when we hear the gospel and become his disciple. Following Christ causes us to spend time with him in Scripture. We observe his life and realize that he does indeed tell his followers to love their enemies. He points out that anyone can love those who love them, even those who do not believe God, but we are to love those who do not love us (Matthew 5:46-47). We hear his words, but we will not believe it is possible or that he is serious in what he says. Nevertheless, we start to wrestle with the idea of loving our enemies. The internal reality is that our heart shifts just a little bit, but it is so subtle that we may not recognize it. What we thought was ridiculous, now invites us to respond. But as we look at what loving an enemy actually requires, we consider it a lofty ideal that we will never achieve. We conclude that it cannot be done being that we will not accept what it costs to love.
Still, Christ's voice persists. Our perspective continues to change as our heart changes. We wonder what truly loving our enemies means. Christ's love is increasingly more personal to us. As we discover how deep our own sin goes, we grasp the truth of the gospel and fully embrace Christ as our Lord and Savior. Identifying Christ as our Lord further challenges us to be obedient to his commands. Our deepening love of Christ increases our desire to be faithful to him and honor God. We are learning to forgive those who harm us, yet we have not come to grips with loving our enemies. But the Spirit is working within our heart. We may not even recognize it, but our stance on the call to love our enemies continues to shift. It is no longer ridiculous or even impossible to reach, though it is one of God's requirement for us that we find very challenging to apply.
As we walk with Christ Jesus we discover that we have started praying for someone who has done great harm. It may come in response to something that happens in our community, nation, or family. Our heart goes out to those who are hurt, but it is also going out to the person or persons who caused the damage. Something in that situation breaks in and breaks our heart. We see the darkness that surrounds the evil doer, we call out to God against the evil, and for light to penetrate people's hearts. Our perspective is now guided by the truth, that they are separated from God. They are lost, slaves to sin and do not know their condition (John 8:34; Titus 3:3). They have no hope of eternal life for they neither have nor know Jesus Christ (John 3:36). We recognize and acknowledge that they have done evil, perhaps even intentionally. People around us, maybe even in our church, say they deserve what they get and that they hope those people are punished. Though we too want justice done, we also want them to come to know God, for then they will recognize and confess their sin. We pray that they would turn in repentance and experience God's mercy and grace, for that is His will and the call of the gospel (Mark 6:12; Luke 5:32; Luke 13:3; Acts 2:38; Acts 3:19; Acts 8:22; Acts 17:30-31). We know that it will be dreadful for them to stand before the Lord without knowing him. Our heart is moved for we know that without God's grace, we would still be lost and deserving God's judgment for our sins. Because God's love has penetrated deep into our heart, we pray for everyone involved whenever something happens. This desire to pray for everyone is taking root in our heart and mind since our deepest desire is for others to know the love of God. Hopeless apart from Christ, but transformed by Christ, we are convinced that even the worst sinner can be transformed in Christ. There is a growing desire to love our enemies. Our prayer may not make a difference in them and they may never come to Christ, but we pray. Interestingly, we notice a big difference in our heart and mind regarding how we view others. Fear of them shrinks and concern for their eternity enlarges. Scripture says that when we love them it is like heaping burning coals on their head (Proverbs 25:22; Romans 12:20). Our motivation is not for their suffering, but that God, who does not desire any would perish, but for all to come to repentance (II Peter 3:9) would be known by them. Christ's coming now leads us to pray for our enemies, which is a choice to love them.
Prayer, having become a regular part of our response to those who harm others as well as those who are harmed, reveals our conscience choice to love our enemies. We apply it in small situations, such as when someone cuts us off in traffic or does something that offends us. Instead of getting angry like we used to, we quickly pray for the other person and anyone else who may be impacted (Romans 12:14). We may wrestle with larger issues, but deep down we know that praying for them is always the God honoring response, rather than allowing bitterness and unforgiveness to take root in our heart. We live this out at home, work, school, and church. We are truly learning and choosing to love our enemies. Sometimes love leads us to approach our enemies about what has happened. We have been affected and need to confront them. We confront them with a desire for restoration not retaliation. We extend mercy and grace. We do not condone what they did, but neither do we hold it over their heads. Not knowing how they may respond, or if the relationship will continue, we do not leave the issue hanging over us, for as much as it is up to us, we seek to be at peace with them (Romans 12:17-19). We do all we can to love them, even if our love is rejected since their response is not our focus or within our control.
Choosing to love our enemies becomes more natural each time we do it. Such love is not the work of our human nature, but the work of the Holy Spirit bearing fruit in us (Galatians 5:22-23). Love flows from deep within because Christ has replaced the vile things that used to come out of our heart (Matthew 15:18-19). By the grace of God, even in the midst of our being wronged, we experience the joy, peace, and patience that is rooted in Christ and God's promises, not in our circumstances. We respond with kindness even when others are not kind to us. Our heart's desire is to bring goodness, even to our enemies, as the Spirit enables us to be faithful to our Lord. When we encounter an enemy, we exercise gentleness and self-control. We are not naive, for we recognize that there is risk; perhaps great risk. We understand that our enemy may seek to destroy us (John 10:10), but we do not fear the one who can kill our body but not harm our soul (Matthew 10:28; Luke 12:4). We have an eternal perspective. We do not act foolishly by taking unnecessary risks, but when we see our enemies, we treated them much differently than they treat us, hoping that perhaps they will see Christ through us. If trusting Christ and the promises of God, loving our enemies is now the natural thing for us to do. One day they will stand before the Lord in judgment, and we hope they will be changed beforehand, but that is between them and the Lord. We are called to live out the love of Christ, which might become an opportunity to introduce them to Christ and even disciple them. We do not know, but if it does happen, it will be God's doing. Therefore, we focus on God, not on ourselves or even on our enemies. What a change it is in us, for now the idea of not loving our enemies seems ridiculous.
Back to Loves like Jesus
Back to Home Page